1. Field of Invention
A system and method for the treatment of water for human consumption using a naturally occurring inorganic catalyst working within a pH range between 3 and 13, combining the inorganic catalyst at 3 parts per million to an oxidant, primarily hydrogen peroxide and a metal salt used as a coagulant and a primary catalyst, resulting in an efficient and economical phasic water purification and filtration system and process.
2. Description of Prior Art
Over the last several years, governmental agencies have elevated standard with regard to water quality for treated water supplied by municipal, rural water district and other filtered or treated water sources. Because a very small number of water sources are clean enough for human consumption, nearly all water treatment required falls within these standards, including clarification, disinfection, decontamination, sanitation, chemical treatment, and is the subject of scrutiny for many environmental agencies and watchdog groups.
The primary purpose of water treatment is to remove contaminants from water originating from natural sources where organic compounds and microorganisms must be removed before being fit for human consumption. Often these compounds cause foul odors and unappealing discoloration of the water, but more concerning are the microorganisms, organic compounds and carcinogens which may cause illness, disease or decaying health to the consuming public.
Prior art has abundantly addresses systems and methods used to remove organic contaminants from water sources and from recycled water. Most prominent is chlorination, wherein chlorine is added to water in gaseous or dry chemical format in most parts of the modern world. However, chlorine has been losing preference in many governmental agencies and health organizations due to concerns for potential adverse health concerns. It has been disclosed that chlorination can lead to the formation of toxic and carcinogenic Disinfection by-Products (DBPs) including chloroform and haloacidic acids. The use of chlorine by water treatment plants is also becoming more restrictive due to safety concerns with the chlorine gas or dry chemical product and human exposure to these raw chemical used in the present chlorination process as such chemicals can cause death or significant injury in their supplied form.
Alternatively, oxidation is sometimes used to destroy organic contaminants while theoretically leaving behind nothing but a harmless by-product. A popular oxidant is ozone, but an expensive drawback is that it must be produced on site and typically must be created immediately prior to injection into the water for treatment. Further, it requires existing plants to install new and expensive machinery that is not commonly found or used at treatment facilities. Although other oxidants may be used, many result in undesirable DBPs including a suspected carcinogen bromate.
It is also been understood in prior art to use a milder oxidant hydrogen peroxide in water treatment, but in the current art will commonly degrade too rapidly and is insufficient to decontaminate the water by itself. Hydrogen peroxide has also been combined with ozone, UV radiation, filters and some ferrous ions in attempts to boost reactivity and efficiency.
Some of the prior art is disclosed which would be relevant to the field of the current invention process. U.S. Pat. No. 6,024,882 to McNeilly, discloses a method of using a combination of hydrogen peroxide and ozone to decontaminate water. High intensity mixing of the hydrogen peroxide, ozone and water under pressure facilitates the completion of the oxidation with a minimal waste of ozone. However, bromate formation is inhibited by having a hydrogen peroxide greater than the ozone concentration. This patent requires the installation of ozone producing devices and machinery on the premises and close to the injection site in the process.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,043,080 to Cater, a method of using hydrogen peroxide and metal ions is employed in conjunction with UV radiation. Human exposure to UV radiation can be extremely dangerous and pose serious injury risk to employees at the treatment plants where this is used. U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,528 to Jasim discloses a water treatment method comprising the addition of hydrogen peroxide and ferrous ions at an acidic pH and subsequent filtration through activated carbon. Although this method uses neither chlorine, a strong oxidant, or UV radiation, it requires the installation and use of active carbon filters that require constant cleaning and recharging as well as costly installation.
A method of using hydrogen peroxide enhanced by passing the treated water over a filter or fixed bed after the addition of the hydrogen peroxide is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,817,240 to Miller. The filter or fixed bed contains metal ions that enhance the activity of hydrogen peroxide. As with the Jasim patent, this method requires the installation of costly filtration systems or additional reservoirs in which fixed beds would have to be installed. Maintenance and initial installation are expensive and may or may not be fitted within the spatial confines of existing treatment plants. U.S. Pat. No. 6,596,176 to Delozier discloses a process for water purification using hydrogen peroxide and metallic coagulants in order to remove organic contaminants, but teaches away from the use of halogens or ferrous ions to treated water, adding the hydrogen peroxide into the system at a first injection point.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,863,826 to Sheets, a method is disclosed whereby chabazite is used to remove odor from animal waste effluent, but does not disclose this for use in the removal of odor from water, although it might be contended that such use would be obvious to those skilled in the art to use zeolites, including chabazite, for removal of odor from water during a treatment process. However, there is absolutely no mention of converting hog effluent to a consumable water source in any processing mentioned within that patent. It is merely introduced to reduce the rampant odor generated by a pond containing animal urine and feces.
A process for purifying hog manure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,040 to Pescher et al., which involves a process comprising the step of treating the effluent with at least one chemical oxidizing agent, at least one flocculating agent and at least one polyelectrolyte forming a filtrate cake and a filtrate. Hydrogen peroxide is disclosed as one of the oxidants, while iron salt is mentioned as a cationic flocculating agent, although aluminum and magnesium are also included. Anionic flocculating agents are also mentioned in this patent. The polyelectrolyte is generally a sugar, which is disclosed as a polyacrylate, a polyacrylamide, a polymethacrylate, a polycarboxylate, a polysaccharide or chitosan. However, no further process is disclosed which is presented in the present process materially similar to the present invention.
Krulik et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,582,605 also discloses a pretreatment process for treating industrial waste water prior to using conventional filtration, especially for high flow, single pass filters. This patent also uses hydrogen peroxide and iron salts to accomplish this pre-filtration process. The process is materially distinct from the process of the present inventive process with regard to steps and treatment phases which are a complete water treatment process providing a potable water source for human consumption.